


Split

by NervousAliceCurious



Series: The Mad Adventures of Alice L. [4]
Category: Fran Bow (Video Game)
Genre: Adjusting To The Crazy, Bleak Alice, Family Reunion, Foreshadowing, Gen, Happy Alice, Memory Swap, impending doom, new worlds, shadowed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-17 20:19:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17567297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAliceCurious/pseuds/NervousAliceCurious
Summary: One Alice enters her new life as the daughter of two lovely parents. The other must learn to survive her new harsh circumstances, whatever the cost.





	1. Once Signed...

She signed her name with a loop and a flourish, and never looked back.

 

 

 

**_Anything,_ ** _you say...?_

 

 

 

 

 

It hit her like a rock: a terrifically _painful_ tugging sensation at the back of her mind...

 

 

“ _Oh..._ ”

 

 

“Alice...?”

 

 

 

Her world be _gan to shift and sp **in in circles**_

 

 

 

 

 

_I..._

_..._

 

_Where **am** I...?_


	2. Two New Realities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The switch is complete. Now, gaze upon the consequences...

She was on the ground.

 

Looking up.

 

She was still in her Alice dress...

 

 

The flowers were still bright and perky, the sunshine gold and beautiful.

 

 

_I..._

 

_I’m **me.**_

****

 

She sat up, relief flooding through her battered body.

 

 

_I feel like I’ve been through a **tornado...**_

 

Gingerly climbing to her feet, the little girl fumbled for her jar of candies.

 

 

_Ah._

 

_Here you are!_

 

Twisting off the top, she popped one into her mouth.

 

 

“Mmm...!”

 

 

It tasted _so_ good!

 

 

The perfect combo of lemony freshness, and sweet, sweet sugar...

 

 

The pastel phantasmagoria surrounding her faded into a darkened, bleak bedroom.

 

 

A flash of black light, and she was on the floor again, blinking back snaggle-toothed stars.

 

 

_Ugh...how disorienting._

 

Shakily rising to her feet, Alice L. stumbled toward her slightly-open door.

 

 

_Was it...all a hallucination?_

 

_..._

 

_I don’t know, but..._

 

_I **would** like to see if **they’re** still around..._

-

 

 

It was **pitch-black.**

Faint wisps of smoke drifted lazily through the quick-silver air, and a perpetual warmth mixed with cold pervaded the endless space.

Some might’ve called it ‘inhospitable’, but to Ecila Mirai, it was home.

 

 

_Finally._

 

_I’ve been **meaning** to come back here..._

 

For some reason, she was lying on the ground.

 

Wrinkling her brow in confusion, the Mirror girl sat up.

 

 

_Did I faint?_

 

 

She didn’t _remember_ doing so...

 

_..._

 

_Maybe I was just tired, or something._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear me, what could possibly be next!?


	3. Cracks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are known which shouldn't be. And things that should be known are lost.

The next morning, Alice sat bolt upright in bed, panting.

 

_What was that!?_

That girl...she’d looked exactly like her!

 

 

-

 

 

Although the events of the dream itself hadn’t been that scary, the lingering feelings of fear wouldn’t leave her.

 

 

_The last thing I remember is trying to leave my room._

 

_Did I collapse?_

 

It would certainly clear up any questions as to why she was practically buried beneath her covers rather than simply lying sprawled along the floor.

 

 

_Did..._

_Did my_ parents _do this...?_

 

 

The urge to see them was overriding every other doubts in her brain.

 

 

_I'm_ so  _scared..._

 

 

_Are they up, by now?_

 

 

 

Clomping down the big, creaky stairs, Alice heard the sounds of metal pots clanging from the kitchen.

 

 

_That must be them._

 

Her heart fluttered in her chest.

 

 

She’d never had _real_ parents before...

 

 

_I wonder what they’ll be like._

 

- 

 

 

Ecila looked over her shoulder for what seemed like the _fiftieth_ time that morning.

 

At least, she _assumed_ it was morning, judging from the silvery, luminescent  oval of light in the sky.

 

 

_Is something following me or not!?_

 

She couldn’t tell, because whenever she took a step, there was no sound.

 

 

And if there were no sounds for her _own_ footfalls, then...

 

 

_It would be_ pathetically _easy for any sort of undesirable creature to come upon me unawares!_

 

...

 

 

Maybe she should let it.

 

 

It would certainly make finding her own mirror a _lot_ easier.

 

 

_Why on earth can I not seem to know where it is!?_

 

_I **know** I live there..._

 

But if she knew where she lived so well, then why did it feel as if she were going in circles?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you see them?


	4. No Place For Paradise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A seemingly desirable scenario proves problematic, indeed.

_...Is this it?_

 

A large slab of reflective stone came up to meet her at the end of the path.

 

_Is this my mirror?_

 

The self-doubts were beginning to get to her.

 

 

_No, this **has** to be it!_

_There’s no way I could’ve picked wrong!!_

 

She touched its cool, fluid surface and squinted at the shadowy silhouette contained within.

 

 

_This doesn’t look like Alice..._

 

Whatever was inside suddenly lashed out, shattering the thick glass, and violently throwing her to the ground!

 

 

_THUD._

 

_Ouch..._

 

Raising herself onto one bruised elbow, she looked up just in time to see the entirety of her home crumble into miniscule shards.

 

 

“Well, that one was a waste”.

 

 

Ecila started at the sudden voice from behind.

 

 

“I guess she couldn’t take the heat”.

 

 

Painfully twisting around so that she could better see the strange speaker, the Mirror girl said:

 

“Pardon me, sir, but who are you?”

 

 

 

He looked quite strange.

 

 

A mix of an elderly man and a wrinkled prune.

 

 

“My name is Thomas, young lady.

 

I am a steward for this area of the Looking Glass Realm”.

 

 

He nodded toward what remained of the once-functioning glass.

 

 

“I make sure that every portal is working just the way it’s supposed to”.

 

 

“And what happens if one breaks?”

 

 

“Then that’s that-

 

The reflection it once belonged to is no more”.

 

 

Ecila felt her heart _drop._

 

“So, you’re saying that if my human counterpart destroys my mirror, then I’m _dead_!?”

 

 

“Essentially”.

 

 

For a moment, his mask of peaceable calm faltered.

 

 

She could see...real sorrow, upon his face.

 

 

“I would assume that a child just like yourself has ceased to exist.

 

In space _and_ memory...”

 

 

He gave a long-suffering sigh.

 

 

“Well, I suppose I should go track the poor thing down...it’s corpse shouldn’t be _too_ hard to find...”

 

 

Ecila watched him totter away.

 

 

_...My existence could be snuffed out at any minute._

 

_Good to know._

 

Rising gingerly to her feet, the girl brushed the dust off the hem of her dress.

 

 

_It just makes finding my mirror more important than it already was._

 

Still...she couldn’t quite keep the worry from growing in her bones.

 

 

-

 

 

It wasn’t supposed...to end like this.

 

 

Alice L. shrank against the stained countertop, the bloody knife clanging to the floor.

 

 

_I..._

 

_I didn’t want this to happen!_

 

_I..._

 

_I just..._

 

They’d tried to kill her.

 

 

She'd wanted to  _love_ them, and they'd tried to  _kill_ her!

 

 

So she’d ended up having to kill _them_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Fourth Part.


End file.
